Need help with storage solutions

[DraikNova]

I'm looking for organizer cabinets to help store my collection, but so far all the cabinets I've found have drawers that are impractically small. My current storage solution consists of a number of plastic cabinets, but these are proving to be too small. The smaller size (with drawers 16,5 cm (6.5 inches) long* by 11,5 cm (4.5 inches) wide by 4 cm (1.6 inches) tall) is only practical for storing small translucent elements and minifigure parts, and my collection is, as I'm sorting it, proving to be too large even for that. The larger size (with drawers 23,5 cm (9.3 inches) long by 16,5 cm (6.5 inches) wide by 6 cm (2.4 inches) tall) is useful for most purposes, although some particularly common pieces, such as black plates (or minifigure torsos and legs) are threatening to overwhelm these too. At any rate, these drawers are apparently not being produced anymore, which leaves me in my current situation. I am trying to find cabinets with drawers larger than these, although if they are close to the size of the larger ones that would be useful too. If they have a few smaller drawers, that wouldn't really matter either. My current spaces for new cabinets have the following dimensions:

25 cm (9.8 inches) long by 60 cm (23.6 inches) wide and no height restriction

45 cm (17.7 inches) long by 140 cm (55.1 inches) wide by 160 cm (63 inches) tall.

I am also looking into acquiring a display cabinet, which preferably would be hung from a wall and translucent on all sides. The space I have for that is 45 cm (17.7 inches) long by 90 cm (35.4 inches) wide by 100 cm (39.4 inches) tall.

In trying to optimize the drawer space that I already have, I am trying to acquire small boxes to fit inside drawers that are 39 cm (15.4 inches) long, 35,5 cm (14 inches) wide and 21,5 cm (8.5 inches) tall. I've thought of using four smaller containers per drawer instead.

Any suggestions are much appreciated. If you would like the dimensions in inches, I'll add them if you ask.

*Here I'm using length as the dimension into which the drawers expand.

Edited June 5, 2015 by DraikNova

[Calzone]

Ooh cabinets my favorite! I've been thinking about starting off with some nice modular storage units that I could use to store pieces. I don't know where you're located but imperial units aren't too common here in america. Most sizing you can do yourself though for some custom drawers. A good technique for making custom trays and settings is to think of it in terms of bookbinding. At most home improvement stores, you can get large sheets of hardboard. You can cut cloth materials in box configurations to make some quite homely trays depending on what kind of cloth you use. Adhere with contact cement and they're pretty easy to assemble! But here I am going off on custom boxes and whatnot. In my state we have the container store where you just shop for things that hold other things. Quick paper and MDF trays are abundant there.

Riding your topic, what do you do for partitioning out your pieces? I've been thinking of various ways to class my pieces so I can sort them in a technological manner without leaving out liars like wheels and whatnot out of reach. mechanic trays IMO are too intensive with too many drawers. I'd much prefer completely removable large trays that are assorted by color. But with so many colors I don't know if that's the right way to go!

How do you divide your legos?

[DraikNova]

Mostly, I sort them out in general categories, like "gears", "hinges" or "bricks with holes for technic pieces". For parts that I have a lot of, I either sort the main category out into more specific ones or start sorting them out per specific part type. Sorting by color is impractical, since you'll be unable to find the part that you want in the homogenous pile you've made. Also, I live in the Netherlands, and there aren't (m)any home improvement stores here. I've mostly been looking at stores like Ikea and online (mostly just at Amazon). Thanks for the help though!

EDIT: Updated the first post with sizes in inches.

Edited June 4, 2015 by DraikNova

[henrysunset]

I prefer to sort my parts completely, with a drawer for every different part. If you do go that route, you might find that the Labels which I've made available to print and download will be helpful in keeping everything organized

You can see more photos and download the labels at http://tomalphin.com/bricklabels

[DraikNova]

Nice! I think I've seen your storage solution before. I've been trying to decide whether to simply go with lots of Akro-Mills drawers and just use a significantly larger number of categories into which to sort parts for a while now. I think I could probably fit 10 of the 24 drawer variety in the space that I have, which would definitely provide enough space to hold all of my LEGO.

[deraven]

I'll throw in my 2 cents here as I've ended up with a hybrid approach that works fairly well. I use mainly Akro Mils stuff, and currently have 10 of the 64-drawer with several of the larger 24-drawer cabinets mixed in, then a bunch of "overstock" storage (including lots of Rubbermaid drawers, bins, and Ziplock bags).

Basically the way I've landed with sorting and storage is that I have my parts sorted by specific piece but not by color (except in the few cases where I have a disproportionate amount of a given color of something, usually that was purchased for a specific project), and I fill up an appropriately sized drawer with that element, and once the drawer is filled and I have some left I put the rest of them in a Ziplock baggie of an appropriate size (often more than one when a gallon bag isn't enough, of course), and then all the overstock for the elements in the drawers of a specific cabinet go in a specific bin (or set of bins).

This keeps my main building area looking nice, the pieces I need close at hand, and if I'm doing a larger build that needs a lot of a given part, I know that "Oh, I emptied this drawer in Cabinet 3, so I'll grab the bag of overstock out of Bin 3" and go from there. I also like it because I don't have to constantly keep changing the setup because a particular element has now outgrown its drawer(s), and keeps my main sorted storage area from being needlessly huge with tons of large drawers which would likely also have a lot of wasted space for the elements that I'd feel a need to keep in the same area despite not having enough to fill a large drawer, etc..

Thus far it's also, thankfully, saved me from getting pushed into sorting by element and color (since I think a lot of folks do that when an element runs out of space- break it into colors and then at least each color or set of colors still fits in the same size drawers). We'll see...

[DraikNova]

Because it's very difficult to get Akro-Mills in my country, I've been looking at Raaco's 250 series, which is a lot deeper anyway. The problem is that they aren't set up to be stackable, at least not without their free-standing rack, which, since I want to put them up against a wall, isn't usable for me. Any suggestions?

Edited August 28, 2015 by DraikNova

[Andy D]

There is a great! Wonderful, long running thread on storage an sorting that has just about (but I am sure not all, yet) every possible storage and sorting solution available.

You might check it out, it is quite long, but I got through it every now and again just for more ideas.

It is located at: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26213

I hope this helps.

Andy D